Sound-producing instrument.



B. H. HAWLBY. QOUND PRODUCING INSTRUMENT.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 8, 1910 1,014,302, Patented Jan. 9, 1912.

nnirnn sTATns Parana union.

EDWIN H. HAWLEY, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

SOUND-PRODUCING INSTRUMENT.

Application filed November 8, 1910.

' To all whom it may concern:

pressure can be made to emitmore or less may be of different thicknesses, so as to discordant noises, varying in loudness and tone at the will of the operator.

The invention consists in a vessel having one or more flattened walls or heads composed of sheet metal or the like and having an inward buckle or concavity. The said heads are made of comparatively thin material, so that when air is forced into said Vessel the inwardly buckled head or heads will be driven outwardly and assume a con vex form so long as the air pressure is'maintained. Upon-' the release or lessening of said pressure, however, the resiliency of the head or heads will cause itor themto resume the normal concave shape. .The changes in shape frommoncave to convex and the reverse will produce noises more or less discordant and of varying degrees of loudness, depending upon the air pressure and the rapidity orsuddenness it is applied and released.

, In the accompanying drawing, Figure l. is a side elevation of one embodiment of my invention. F ig. 2 is an edge view of the same partly in section. Figs. 3, 4c and 5, show modifications.

- The instrument in its preferred form aswith which 'sumes the shape of a shallow box having a circular cross section. The body 1 of the vessel is preferably somewhat tapering, so that the box is a frustum of a cone. The two heads 2-and 3 are preferably parallel, and of different diameters. They are secured to the body 1 by a joint which afi' ords a practically air-tight connection; such as by soldering or seaming. One or both heads is composed of thin sheet metal, and is stretched at its center so as to be buckled or rim-bound. At some convenient point a nozzle 4.- is attached to the vessel, being preferably wide'at its junction with the box and mergingfinto a smaller mouth-piece 5. Besides being of different sizes, the heads Specification of Letters Patent.

' Patented Jail. 9, 1912. Serial Nd. 591,278.

yield to different air pressures. and give out different tones when sprung outwardly and inwardly.

In Fig. 3 is shown a "essel 6 having on one side two buckled portions 7 and 8, with a nozzle and mouthpiece 9 at one end of said vessel.

In Fig.4 is shown a vessel 10 provided with a nozzle ll shaped to receive one end of a short length of tubing 12 which is connected with a hollow compressible bulb 13 made ofrubber or other elastic material.

The vessel may have a plurality of buckled 2 portions, thickness.

In operation, the operator creates inside the vessel a pneumatic pressure above that of the atmosphere, either by simply blowing into the mouthpiece, or by compressing the bulb 13. The result is that the buckled head or heads spring outwardly to the positions indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 2, In so doing they emit. a more or less loud sound of a crackling nature, whose tone depends upon the size and thickness of the head and if desired, varying in size and the suddenness with which the pneumaticpressure is applied to it. Upon a release or lessening of the pressure the head will spring back to or toward its normal concave shape, and will again give out a crackling sound. Thus, by repeatedly inflatingand deflating the vessela series of noises is produced. The ettect may be still further modified by weighting one of the heads. Fig. 5 shows a weight let attached to the center of one head of an instrument having two parallel heads of the same size. The weight may be applied to any one of the various instruments shown in the other figures, and, as will be readily understood, serves to vary the quickness and energy of response to the fluctuations of the air pressure. appears that the three factors of size, thickness and activity may bevaried to suitthe design of any particular instrument, inorder to secure variations in the relative times of response of the severallieads to the air pressure introdlu'ed into the vessel. Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A sound-producing instrument, com- Thus it posed of a vessel having a plurality of heads 1 of thin sheet metal provided with a normally inward buckle, means for introducing into said vessel a pneumatic pressure In excess of the atmosphere, and means for varying the relative times of response of said heads lo said-pressure. 1 v

'2. A s mn'd-produeing instrument, composed of :1 vessel having two heads of thin sheet metal of diti'erent diameters and provided with a nornmlly' inward buckle,- and means for introducing air pressure intwsaid v vessel.

of thin sheetmetal of diiierent thie-knesses and provided with a, normally inward buckle, and means fol-introducing air pressure into said vessel.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EDWIN H. HAW'LEY.

Witnesses:

GEO. P. Win'nrLEsm CIIAS. 1I. Keen. 

